The Cause & Effect of Lies
by Cyn Finnegan
Summary: After six months of Lila's lies, abuse & torture, and no support except from Adrien and few others, Marinette's parents transfer her from Collège Françoise Dupont, with Adrien following suit. On their last day, Lila attacks Marinette, shoving her down the stairs, claiming Mari attacked her. Too bad Adrien was a witness to what happened. Inspired by Monsters Are Within by DaniMeows.


**Author:** Cyn Finnegan

**Beta:** None

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Miraculous Ladybug or any of the characters. I only like to play with them.

**Rating:** T

**Status:** WIP

**Pairings:** Adrinette implied

**Warnings:** .

**Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Chat Noir © Zagtoonz, 2019. Used without permission and not for profit.**

**Chapter One: Alya Finally Wises Up**

Alya Césaire stared at the blank computer screen, unsure of what to say. Posting an apology on the Ladyblog, telling Marinette how sorry she was wouldn't cut it, even though she was very sorry.

_I should have listened to you, Mari_. _God, I'm the _worst_ best friend ever_, Alya thought, her eyes welling up as she buried her face in her hands and sobbed for the fifth time today. Lila's many lies had been exposed that morning when an akuma attacked, causing everyone under its influence to spill their deepest, darkest secrets, targeting the Italian brat first.

Lila had targeted Marinette, not the other way around. Lila took pleasure in watching the entire class, save for Adrien Agreste, Chloé Bourgeois, and a few others, as they turned against their representative and "dear friend." Lila was working with Hawkmoth because she _loathed_ Ladybug, and dreamed of slowly killing the superheroine of Paris. And after six months of physical, emotional, and psychological abuse, Lila shoved Marinette down a flight of stairs inside the school.

And where was Lila now? At the local _centre de détention_, awaiting trial on charges of attempted murder. Since she was a flight risk, the judge saw fit to have her passport confiscated. Her own parents, after discovering Lila's misdeeds, disowned her and begged the Embassy to revoke her diplomatic immunity. She'd been exposed for who and what she was, so no one would ever trust or believe her again and, with luck, she _would_ be punished.

In a way, however, Lila had won.

Two weeks earlier, Mlle. Bustier announced that Marinette's parents were pulling her out of school. Angered by their daughter's mistreatment by many of the students and some of the faculty, Tom Dupain and Sabine Cheng demanded M. Damocles put their their only child in for a transfer from Collège Françoise Dupont to Collège Jeanne d'Arc. They had an excellent Art program and a zero tolerance policy regarding bullying, both of which Marinette needed now.

The day after that, Adrien transferred to Collège Jeanne d'Arc as well, without his father's knowledge or consent. For some reason Alya couldn't fathom, he wanted to as far away from Lila as he could get.

On their last day, Friday, Lila pushed Marinette down the stairs near their class, claiming Marinette attacked her first. There were superficial scratches on the Italian girl's arms; scratches Alya now knew were because Marinette tried to fight off her attacker when she'd been thrown down the stairs.

In their concern over "poor, innocent Lila," most of the rest of the class hadn't noticed or cared that an unconscious Marinette was being carted off on a gurney by EMTs. In fact, they all blamed Marinette for her own predicament, Alya included. Not realizing there was a witness, Lila began to spin a sob story worthy of an Oscar, again calling Marinette a bully. She would have gotten away with it again, too, if it wasn't for one small problem... a witness by the name of Adrien Agreste.

Being the only witness, Adrien told a sympathetic Lt. Raincomprix what he knew; that _Marinette_ was the one who'd been attacked, not Lila, and that Mari had healing injuries from other encounters with the Italian girl, and her threats against him. The ones still supporting Lila, Alya included, would have turned against _him_, too, as soon as he returned to class, but he'd boarded the ambulance and gone to the hospital with Marinette.

When Alya found out Marinette was leaving _Françoise Dupont_, she was happy, because if she was capable of hurting Lila, she clearly wasn't the girl Alya thought she was. Alya wondered if she'd ever known her at all, though that wasn't right, either. Marinette _was_ the girl Alya once believed she was; a sweet one filled with love and kindness, a girl who'd been trying to tell her the truth all along. _Her best friend_. It was _Alya_ who wasn't the girl she thought she was.

A new girl breezed into Paris with sweet lies on her tongue, talking about celebrities she'd never met and connections she'd never made. The new girl plied the blogger with promises to help her network with professional journalists and help her achieve her dreams, and in that instant, she'd begun to turn her back on her supportive best friend.

Lila only told Alya what she'd wanted to hear, and the starstruck reporter hadn't bothered to verify her sources. She'd foisted that responsibility off on Marinette, much like she and Nino started foisting their babysitting duties off on the overworked, stressed out girl on Lila's "helpful" suggestion.

Monday morning's classes, after Mlle. Bustier announced that Marinette woke up, a still angry Alya bulled her way into the injured girl's room, armed with a box full of things Marinette had left at her house during their sleepovers. She found Adrien there, too, sitting at her bedside, and unleashed her venom on them both.

She accused Mari of everything Lila had done to her, accused Adrien of covering up for her. She even repeated Lila's latest ridiculous rumor, that Marinette and Adrien were working for Hawk Moth, daring them to deny it. They did, not that Alya believed them.

"Alya, please! You have to believe me! I didn't _do_ anything to Lila!" Marinette had cried the last time Alya saw her, bruised and beaten, with bandages on her head and her leg in a cast.

"I don't listen to lying, bullying monsters," Alya spat out, dumping the box's contents out. She then ripped the beaded friendship bracelet Marinette made for her birthday from her wrist and threw to the ground, where it shattered on the tiled hospital floor.

Her best friend... no, because of her own actions, Alya had _no right_ to refer to Marinette Dupain-Cheng by _that_ term again... sobbed as Adrien forced the angry Creole girl out of the room, practically hissing with rage at her.

Marinette hadn't been the monster; _she_ had. And Lila had. What right did she have to demand Marinette and Adrien listen to her now? She _wasn't_ a good person, not anymore. She was unworthy of Ladybug's trust now, which was why the heroine would be choosing a new bearer for Trixx.

She dialed Marinette's number on her cell phone, ready to grovel for forgiveness.

"_We're sorry, you have reached a number that has been disconnected or is no longer in service. If you feel you have reached this recording in error, please check the number and try your call again._"

Marinette was gone.


End file.
